The Sabbath Stones
 |
| The Sabbath Stones | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Compilation album by | ||||
| Released | 29 April 1996 | |||
| Recorded | 1983–95 | |||
| Genre | Heavy metal | |||
| Length | 79:59 | |||
| Label | I.R.S. | |||
| Producer | Various (see below) | |||
| Black Sabbath compilations chronology | ||||
| ||||
The Sabbath Stones (1996) is a compilation album of Black Sabbath songs taken from albums ranging from 1983's Born Again to 1995's Forbidden. It was never formally released in the US or Canada, and was the last album to be released by Black Sabbath with I.R.S. Records.
Album information
It was created solely to fulfill Tony Iommi's contract with I.R.S. It included a short story about Black Sabbath which had some mistakes. Another mistake was the misspelling of Vinny Appice's name on the front cover of the CD as "Vinnie", a mistake which also appeared on both the Mob Rules and Live Evil sleeves.
The era covered by the album is considered to be the "third era" of Black Sabbath. After the initial line-up with Osbourne, Iommi, Butler and Ward broke up the band's reformation with Ronnie James Dio and Vinny Appice formed the second era. Thereafter, line-ups were far less stable, with band members repeatedly coming and going, with many returning. This period is generally the least popular among Black Sabbath fans without Ozzy or Dio on vocals, although Dio's vocals are featured on the Dehumanizer album, with "TV Crimes" being taken from that album.
The version of "Headless Cross" that appears on this album starts with the last few seconds of the track "The Gates of Hell" (Which precedes "Headless Cross" on the Headless Cross album) before the opening drum line.
‘Loser Gets It All’, according to the liner notes in the album, was supposedly one of Tony Iommi’s favorite tracks to both perform and write. It was recorded during the Forbidden sessions, but only appeared on the Japanese version of the album.
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |   link |
Track listing
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Original release | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Headless Cross" | Tony Iommi, Cozy Powell, Tony Martin | Headless Cross (1989) | 6:32 |
| 2. | "When Death Calls" | Iommi, Powell, Geoff Nicholls, Martin , Brian May | Headless Cross | 6:57 |
| 3. | "Devil & Daughter" | Iommi, Powell, Martin | Headless Cross | 4:43 |
| 4. | "The Sabbath Stones" | Iommi, Powell, Nicholls, Martin, Neil Murray | Tyr (1990) | 6:48 |
| 5. | "The Battle of Tyr" (Instrumental) | Iommi, Powell, Nicholls, Murray | Tyr | 1:08 |
| 6. | "Odin's Court" | Iommi, Powell, Nicholls, Martin, Murray | Tyr | 2:42 |
| 7. | "Valhalla" | Iommi, Powell, Nicholls, Martin, Murray | Tyr | 4:41 |
| 8. | "TV Crimes" | Ronnie James Dio, Iommi, Geezer Butler | Dehumanizer (1992) | 4:01 |
| 9. | "Virtual Death" | Iommi, Butler, Martin | Cross Purposes (1994) | 5:46 |
| 10. | "Evil Eye" | Iommi, Butler, Martin, Eddie Van Halen | Cross Purposes | 5:57 |
| 11. | "Kiss of Death" | Iommi, Powell, Nicholls, Martin, Murray | Forbidden (1995) | 6:09 |
| 12. | "Guilty as Hell" | Iommi, Powell, Nicholls, Martin, Murray | Forbidden | 3:30 |
| 13. | "Loser Gets It All" | Iommi, Powell, Nicholls, Martin, Murray | Japanese issue of Forbidden | 2:57 |
| 14. | "Disturbing the Priest" | Iommi, Butler, Bill Ward, Ian Gillan | Born Again (1983) | 5:49 |
| 15. | "Heart Like a Wheel" | Iommi, Glenn Hughes, Nicholls, Jeff Glixman | Seventh Star (1986) | 6:37 |
| 16. | "The Shining" | Iommi, Bob Daisley, Ray Gillen | The Eternal Idol (1987) | 5:55 |
Personnel
- Tony Iommi – guitars - All tracks
- Bill Ward – drums - Track 14
- Geezer Butler – bass - Tracks 8-10, 14
- Ronnie James Dio – lead vocals - Track 8
- Geoff Nicholls – keyboards - All tracks
- Vinny Appice – drums - Track 8
- Ian Gillan – lead vocals - Track 14
- Eric Singer – drums - Track 15-16
- Glenn Hughes – lead vocals - Track 15
- Dave Spitz – bass - Track 15
- Bob Daisley – bass - Track 16
- Tony Martin – lead vocals - Tracks 1-4, 6-7, 9-13, 16
- Cozy Powell – drums - Tracks 1-7, 11-13
- Laurence Cottle – bass - Tracks 1-3
- Neil Murray – bass - Tracks 4-7, 11-13, 16
- Bobby Rondinelli – drums - Tracks 9-10
Guest musicians
- Brian May – guitar solo - Track 2
Producers
- Tony Iommi & Cozy Powell – Tracks 1-7
- Mack for Musicland GmbH – Track 8
- Leif Mases/Black Sabbath – Tracks 9, 10
- Ernie C. – Tracks 11-13
- Robin Black – Track 14
- Jeff Glixman & Chris Tsangerides – Track 15
- Jeff Glixman & V. Cooper – Track 16
